


Lay Your Hands On Me

by Shirazkindofgirl



Category: Holby City
Genre: Baby Charlotte, Baby Elinor, Baby Massage, Berena Appreciation Week 2018, F/F, Family Bonding, Young Bernie, Young Serena
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 10:10:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15683295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shirazkindofgirl/pseuds/Shirazkindofgirl
Summary: What if Bernie and Serena first met when Charlotte and Elinor were babies?Berena Appreciation Week Day Two: Family Prompt





	Lay Your Hands On Me

For Serena Campbell, ambition had been everything. A woman in a male-dominated world, Serena was determined to fight her way to the top of her chosen field. Her mother had taught her to fight hard and never give up. To be successful, sacrifices had to be made. The taste of failure was not something Serena was accustomed to. Motherhood, lack of sleep, feeling completely out of her depth for the first time in her life and the resulting bout of post-natal depression had built up to the point where Serena felt helpless. Edward was of no use whatsoever, preferring to spend his free time outside of the house. Adrienne offered parenting advice in her own inimitable style, Serena tried, she really did, but nothing seemed to work. Elinor was a colicky baby who cried and wouldn’t sleep for more than two hours at a time. On the recommendation of her Health Visitor, Serena’s name had been put on the list to attend a baby massage course at her local children’s centre. Three months in to motherhood, Serena was willing to try anything.

So it was that Serena found herself parking Elinor’s pram and entering the children’s centre through the automatic door. She was greeted by a friendly receptionist who directed Serena to the appropriate room. Taking a deep breath and hugging Elinor a little closer, Serena opened the door and stepped through. The room she had entered was light, airy and decorated with pictures which would appeal to young children. A space had been created in the middle of the room with blankets and mats in a circle. Serena looked around and noticed two other mothers with young babies had arrived before her. A smiling older woman approached and introduced herself as Denise. She was the massage instructor for the six weeks the course would last. Denise told Serena to make herself comfortable on the mats and they would begin when the other mothers had arrived.

Serena had just made herself comfortable on the floor, placing her towel on the mat and settling Elinor on top of it when the door opened and a harassed looking blonde woman with a baby in a sling entered. Denise approached the blonde and welcoming her to the group, gestured towards the mats. For once Elinor seemed to be happy to kick her legs quietly on the mat and Serena took a moment to assess her fellow course members. They all looked tired, one young mum was trying to soothe her crying baby, bouncing her gently on her shoulder and making shushing noises. A movement to Serena’s right drew her attention and she turned her head just as the blonde sat down next to her and started to loosen the sling containing her sleeping infant. Their eyes met, and they exchanged small smiles.

Gradually the room filled up until all spaces on the mats were occupied. Denise sat down with a soft-bodied instructor doll in front of her and began to speak.

“Welcome to our baby massage programme. Over the next six weeks you will learn massage strokes for legs, feet, stomach, chest, arms, hands, face and head and I’ll show you a short colic routine, too. I’ll demonstrate the gentle movements and touch relaxation. We will talk about the best time and how long to massage, what oils to use and how to adapt the strokes to your baby’s individual needs as your child grows.”

Serena sat up a little straighter. If a relaxing massage could help Elinor and in turn, give Serena a chance to sleep for more than two hours at a time, she was willing to give it a go.

Denise continued, “In this first session, I will demonstrate how to massage your baby’s legs. Because this is a new experience for your baby, we start with the extremities as it is less invasive. The strokes we use are a combination of Indian and Swedish massage traditions, combined with principles from yoga and reflexology. As you will see, you have been provided with a small bottle of non-fragranced vegetable oil, which you may take home and use when you practice the strokes we have learned. We use a vegetable oil to minimise allergic reactions. However, if you prefer, you may use olive or coconut oil. We do ask that you continue to use our vegetable oil during class time, please. Let’s get started.” Denise began to remove the trousers from her demonstration doll. “If you could all ensure your baby’s feet and legs are free, we don’t need to remove any other clothing for this lesson.”

Serena popped the fastenings on Elinor’s romper and pulled her feet and legs free, tucking the suit under Elinor’s back. The blonde next to her did the same and picked up the massage oil, she flicked the lid up and sniffed the oil. Learning over towards Serena she commented quietly, “Do you think this is the same stuff we use in cooking?”

Serena raised her eyebrow, “Ha! I hadn’t thought about that!”

Denise cleared her throat and brought the attention of the pair back to the task at hand.

“We pour a small amount of oil into the palms of our hands and then rub them together to warm the oil.” Denise waited whilst all the parents opened their oil bottles and poured a small amount into their hands. Serena rubbed her hands together, feeling the oil slip between her fingers. She turned her head slightly to look at the blonde next to her, noticing that she had poured a little more oil than necessary into her hands. Serena watched as a small drop of oil dripped from the end of one of the blonde’s fingers. Serena couldn’t help noticing how long and slender her fingers appeared to be.

Smiling down at Elinor, Serena awaited the next instruction. 

“Now, raise your hands so that they are eye-level with your baby and then ask your baby for permission to massage them. Our preferred phrases are ‘may I massage you?’ or ‘are you ready for your massage?’ If your baby wriggles away, or appears unhappy at any time, stop the massage. We want to promote positive feelings when we massage our babies.”

Serena asked Elinor if it was okay to massage her. Leaning over towards the blonde, she whispered, “Well, she’s not going to say no, is she? She’s only 12 weeks old!” The blonde snorted in a rather undignified manner and Serena grinned. As much as she thought this course might help Elinor, Serena decided that she wanted to make her new friend utter that sound as often as possible.

Denise shot a distinctly unimpressed look towards the pair and then proceeded to demonstrate the first massage stroke. “We will start by massaging our baby’s left leg, make a C shape with your hand and then you are going to wrap your hand around baby’s thigh and in one gentle movement, stroke downwards from thigh to ankle. Repeat the process three more times.”

Serena wrapped her hand around Elinor’s thigh and stroked downwards over her chubby knee towards her ankle. Watching Denise’s movements, Serena repeated the strokes, feeling a little more confident with each repetition.

Denise demonstrated the next set of strokes and Serena worked her way through, repeating them and watching as Elinor seemed to relax a little as the class progressed.

Soon it was time for the teaching part of the course to end. Serena dressed Elinor back into her romper suit and gathered up her oil, towel and changing bag. She noticed, the baby next to her had fallen asleep on her mat. She smiled at the blonde and after wiping the remaining oil on her towel, she held her hand out and introduced herself, “Serena Campbell and this is Elinor.”

The blonde wiped her hand on the corner of her towel and took Serena’s hand in her own, “Bernie Wolfe and this sleeping beauty is Charlotte. Shall we get a drink?”

The pair made their way over to a table which had been set up with refreshments and both took a glass of water and a biscuit. 

After taking a sip of her water, Serena turned to her new friend, “So, is Charlotte your first?”

Bernie hastily chewed the biscuit she had just popped into her mouth, “Oh, um … no, I have a son, Cameron, he’s three. Is Elinor your first?”

Serena nodded, “Yes, 27 hours of labour before this one decided to put in an appearance.”

“Ah, Charlotte was a C-Section. Breach.” 

Serena winced, “Ouch!”

“I had hoped to be back to full fitness by now, but I haven’t been cleared to return to active duty yet.” Bernie said.

“Active duty? Armed Forces?” Serena asked.

“Captain in the RAMC.” Bernie replied.

Serena smiled, “A fellow medic, although I’m just a General Surgeon at the local hospital. I’m hoping to specialise in Vascular surgery when I return to work.”

At that moment a yelp emanated from across the room and Bernie turned to see Charlotte waking up. She sighed gently, “I’d better get Charlotte home, she’ll be wanting a feed and I need to pick Cam up from nursery. It’s been nice meeting you, Serena. See you next week?”

“Yes, nice meeting you too. See you next week.” Serena said with a grin.

With one last smile, Bernie turned and walked back to where Charlotte lay on the mat. Serena watched her go. She’d made a friend, a fellow medic no less. Maybe this class was going to be more fun than she had anticipated.


End file.
